The Busy American Family

What a busy month it's been! We have had to deal with getting back into the swing of the school year, as well as juggle dance, piano, chorus, plus the addition of french horn lessons.

And now we have added home renovation on top of it all. Mom and Gordy are at "The House" (we have begun refering to my Uncle Bob's house as "The House" instead of "Bob's House") and are working hard on cleaning and renovating. We spend our weekends and evenings with them. I'm getting excited as things have started coming together. There is new flooring in the kitchen and the appliances come tomorrow. I wish I had some pictures to share, but they are still in the digicam, and I would rather have Jenn share all of the details.

In the meantime I just wanted to let everyone know that we are, in fact, still alive.

On top of all of this, Jenn has a play which her students are going to be putting on sometime in October, and my job responsibilities have morphed slightly, causing some stress. My department has absorbed the computer programmers in the Customer Support department, which means we are now responsible for all new development and maintenance of my company's newest software. Yes, I am being intentionally vague since my contract forbids me from talking about my work online. :) Sorry. Since Monday, four new programmers have moved down to our little cubicle farm, and somewhere along the line my computer lost its network connection, which means I was completely useless today. Although the prospect of not having to work may seem fun, since I had 20 open issues I was dealing with I would have rather been able to work. :( I finally did get network connectivity reestablished (at least partially!), so I will be able to get back to work tomorrow.

Hopefully things will begin to calm down, although that may not happen until after we've moved in to the new house. *sigh*

Rally Day

"I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man."

-Abraham Lincoln

Kairi was presented with her first Bible at church yesterday at Rally Day. Pastor Mardy Von Harten made the presentation. We're so proud of her progress at Sunday School. Baby girl, I hope you can always find what you seek in the Word of God.

We love you.

Terror, Joy, and Guilt

I having a pretty rough day, and feeling a mix of emotions. The easy one is joy. The three bedroom, two and a half bath house in our school district that is shown above may soon be ours. There's a 150K mortgage on the house, but it's in an area where a 3 bedroom house is likely to be worth 300K. So if we can take possession of this house, not only will our children have plenty of room to grow, but the equity will ensure their college tuitions. So far, everything sounds rosy, right?

Let's take guilt next. It's not our house. It's Scott's uncle's house. When his uncle died in August, the house was willed to Scott's mother, but with the clear intention (expressed to the entire family) that Bob wanted the house to be ours. I don't feel comfortable accepting that. But Scotty does, and it's what he wants. And Scotty's whole family wants us to have it, and while they don't want to pressure me, it's clear they want it to stay in the family. So Scott worked me around to it. We've put a lot of work into cleaning up the place, both while Bob lived there, and in the past few weeks. Scott's mom and cousin cleaned and packed quite a lot, and then we moved TONS of things out to the garage for eventual donation or disposal, as you can see in the picture on the left. (And that's barely a fraction of the pile.) So I'm trying to get over the guilt part. Sure, I don't deserve it. But Scotty loved his uncle dearly, and if anyone deserves the gift of the house, he does. And since we're putting all this work into it, I feel like I'm at least working for it.

The other thing is, the house is in pretty rough shape. We're going to need to fix a large section of drywall that is water damaged. The kitchen needs to be completely refurbished. One bathroom is water damaged and non-functional - another needs a serious cleaning and a new toilet. And the outside, as you can see, will need some serious landscape work to make it look like that perfect painting. So while it will be worth 300K when it's in good shape, we're waiting to find out if it will even be appraised at more than the 150K that is still owed.

But then comes the terror part. You see, Scotty and I got married in college, and started our family right away. We were blessed by two gorgeous, talented, well-behaved (well, mostly!) kids, so I'd say it was a good choice. Financially, though, it left us in dire straits often, and our credit suffered. Then we went through a few years where we got involved with some short term lenders who bled away all of our money. As a result, our credit isn't great. It's pretty good, but there are plenty of smirches. Then there's the fact that due to all the money we spend on before and after care, lessons, and various other child related expenses (not to mention household expenses, surprise vet bills, and all the detrius of life) we're still living more or less paycheck to paycheck, although that's set to change now that we've finally caught up from those years of being behind thanks to unscrupulous lenders. (Although our student loans will most likely stay in forbearance until we can get the kids out of $800 a month childcare.) So, all things considered, while we make a seriously decent salary (our yearly wage is about 60% of the mortgage we want), and are more than capable of affording the mortgage payment, I was pretty convinced we won't be approved for the mortgage, based on our poor financial planning abilities. That is, I was, until Saturday.

Saturday was when we found out that the house is probably (not definitely, mind you) going to be appraised at higher than the mortgage, which means we wouldn't need to come up with a downpayment. We also found out that Bob had an IRA that will pay all his bills so the house won't need to be sold to settle the estate. So, out of a desire to LOOK like I was trying to help Scotty, I put our personal financial information into LendingTree.com. Then we got notice in our e-mail that three banks were willing to "pre-qualify" us for the amount we needed based on the data we entered. Well, we were shocked. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. But we called my mom and somehow got a on a whirlwind track to home ownership. All of a sudden, she's coming down with Gordy to help fix the house. Scott's mom is going to help us with closing costs with money from the estate. We're going to move by November. We spend the weekend clearing out the living room and painting the UGLY dining room. Here's the wall before....

Here it is after....

See what I mean? We went from 0-278 in 10 seconds flat.

But now it's Monday. And the lender called and wants all our financial information. And the official appraisal hasn't come through. And in my typical rollercoaster of emotion, I'm scared senseless. The house I didn't even really want before has become my central goal. And I'm flat out terrified that the lenders will take one look at our messed up bank statement (let's just say our overdraft protection had to kick in this month when my work decided to screw my paydates around), our not so great credit, and our lack of assets and flat out refuse to lend us money. So now I'm just nauseous, worried, tired, and convinced that none of this will ever work out.

Today, I got up at 5:30, left for work at 7, worked steadily through the day, dealing with the kids who threw fits about not being picked in last Friday's auditions, not to mention the kids who didn't do their first rough draft. I spent 1.5 hours after school teaching the stage crew about their responsibilities. I made sure everyone had rides home. I ran home to my own kids, fed them, dressed Kai for dance. Dropping her off, I ran to Scott and picked him up because he missed the bus. I grocery shopped, cleaned my house, picked Kai up, met with her dance instructor, dealt with her broken heart when the other half of the duet she wanted to do decided not to do it, so Kai can't. Then I came home and typed this. Tonight, I still need to finish some layouts for a client/friend, work on school work, find plans to build an opening sarcophagus for a play in less than 6 weeks that starts rehearsal tomorrow, and vacuum the upstairs. By Sunday, I need to plan a puppet play for Sunday School and contact 2 Sunday School teachers to find out if they're returning. By Friday, I need to finish cleaning out the downstairs of Bob's house.

Where, exactly, in my life, am I supposed to fit worrying myself sick over a mortgage application???

Impressions of Early Fall

As far as I'm concerned, fall begins as soon as school starts. If school starts before Labor Day, maybe it can still be summer until then. But once Labor Day is behind us, my favorite season is before us.

Anyone who knows me knows that I wax poetic on a semi-regular basis about how much I love autumn. So it should be no particular surprise that my blog entry tonight reflects the mellow humor I'm enjoying, thanks to the change of seasons.

How do I know it's fall?

The air has changed. There's a subtle chill in the morning air when I head out for the drive. The breeze is just a bit clearer, and sharper. The forecast never leaves the 70s, and often dips to the 50s and 40s. I hate the heat of summer, so that's enough to make me smile. Better yet, this fall, I can warm up with a soft sleeping kitten in my lap.

The grocery store is overflowing with bounty. Sure, there's always food. We're lucky enough to live in a society where anything we want is available at nearly any season of the year. But the particular glossy piles of apples, glowing crates full of clementines, mounds of orange wrappered candies and perfectly browned bakery pies that show up on the shelves around this time of year just FEEL like harvest. Throw in the mums lining the entryways and the gourds and leaves decorating the displays, and I get this goofy grin on my face. Pathetic, aren't I? Sort of a fall junkie, really. And speaking of food, I have a craving for anything pumpkin, apple or cinnamon. Bad for the waistline. (Well, in certain forms - like pie!) Good for the soul.

My sister and I are planning a party for Halloween, and the kids are riled and wild about their costume choices, which change daily. We have an entire weekend planned between the party, Octoberfest at Six Flags Great Escape, the pumpkin patch, and the apple orchard. I took TWO days off from work, and plan to *gasp* let the kids play hooky. You know it's fall when the outdoors can call me out of my classroom to leave my students to the not-so-tender mercies of a sub.

Scott's playing Madden, and talking about the roster changes on the Eagles until I want to scream. I'm looking at the roster for the Pack and cringing at the thought of another losing season, while I hope for a Favre -driven miracle. In short, football starts on Sunday, and I can't wait to come home from church and curl up on the couch with Scott to watch and cheer (and probably nap) my way through the season. I even started a new scrapbook challenge with a football theme - the Super Bowl of Scrapping.

My Google calendar is sending me daily updates on our schedule. It's not pretty. 7-8 dance classes a week, a piano lesson, 3 drama club meetings, Nicky's Tae Kwon Do starting soon, open houses, chorus, fundraiser due dates... But hey, that's our life for you. We're used to it. And the whirl of activity is just another sign that fall is here.

Another sign? I'm sketching plans for scenery and costumes, and fretting that I have 14 rehearsals to pull together another great play. Can it be done? Sure. Will I be going crazy by opening night? Oh, yeah. Do I care? Not even a little bit.

I guess that tells the whole story, really. In autumn, nothing is really THAT bad. No matter how stressed or busy or worried I am, nothing can completely dampen my spirits. For many people, spring is a season of hope and new beginnings. Maybe it's just because my "new year" starts with school. But for me, fall is the season of dreams.

The Sweetest Place on Earth

Today, we took a day trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of Hershey's Chocolate World. This complex, close to Hershey Park and the Hershey Chocolate Factory, is home to the chocolate factory tour ride and several other attractions. It was raining and cold, and we got a late start, so we didn't even attempt Hershey Park, but just Chocolate World provided us with hours of entertainment.

First, we rode on "The Great American Chocolate Tour", which took us on a trip through the chocolate making process. We've ridden it several times before, but Nicky didn't remember and it's been updated for 2006, so it was a new experience for all of us. Nicky LOVED the roasting chamber where we were "roasted" along with the cacao beans. The whole ride was (brace for pun) udderly adorable, especially now that they've added three cheesy singing cows, waxing poetic about how the milk from area farms is what makes Hershey's chocolate so special.

Still, we all loved the ride, and the free sample of Hershey's chocolate Take Five bars was a yummy ending. We later went back to ride the (free) ride twice more, because, hey, why not? The extra candy bars ended up in my bag though - after smelling all the chocolate during the ride, we were kind of over-chocolated without even eating any!

Next, we headed over to the 3-D movie. This does cost money, and Kairi STILL remembers being traumatized by it 4 years ago at age 5. So we tried really hard to reassure both kids that it was just like the 3-D movies we had enjoyed at Disney World earlier in the summer.


The movie started out pretty well, and the kids were starting to enjoy themselves, but then we realized why Kai remembers this show so negatively. At one point, a huge spider comes out of the screen, they touch the back of your legs and your shoulder, and make a skittering sound. Our entire family is freaked by bugs. So it took a bit of finangling to settle Kai down, and Nick looked a bit anxious for a minute. Fortunately, there was enough confetti and rain and bubbles and chocolate smells that WEREN'T scary to relax them both, and they were smiling when we left.

We headed over to the Hershey Factory Experience, and the kids tried their hand at factory "work." They helped box up some kisses, got cool hats, and had their pictures taken for their employee ID's. Afterward, Nicky got a special hard hat and got to spin a big wheel to fill a toolbox with candy as one of his souvenirs. He also got a Hershey Kiss plush for his bookbag. (Kai opted not to spend her allowance on candy, though she did eventually get some candy shaped erasers.)

We ate some dinner, the kids getting sandwiches and chips in souvenir lunchboxes and Scott and I eating chili in bread bowls. Everyone was cheerful and goofy, and I was glad we had decided to visit. Then we went up to see the "characters". The York Peppermint Patty was especially cool, sitting down at the table to "talk" to the kids and "share" their food.
Oh, and of course..... We had enough chocolate to put this look on Nicky's face! All and all, a great day.

My Security Blanket

OK, to this may be extremely sappy, but here goes anyway...

In a large plastic bin on the floor of our closet, folded nicely, there sits a huge, hand-knitted, pink and white baby blanket. The blanket was made almost thirty years ago by the loving hands of a mother, a brother, and two sisters. On cold nights, or when someone is sick, The blanket is carely taken out of the bin and wrapped around ill or coldest member in the household.

This was Jenn's baby blanket. Her mother, brother, and sisters made it for her when she was born. It it pink with white alphabet blocks on it. It's warm, and soft, and larger than any of us, so it can be wrapped around any of us when we are cold or sick.

The most special thing about this blanket, however, is that it survived for thirty years. When Jenn was young (I don't know how old), her family home caught fire and burned to the ground. Everyone escaped the blaze, with Jenn being carried out wrapped in that blanket. It was one of the few material items in the house that were saved.

This blanket reminds me of a few things. It reminds me of my parents, who always kept me safe, even in the most financially difficult of times. It reminds me of Jenn's family, and specifically her Mom, who has helped us out time and again, especially in the early years of our marriage. It reminds me of Jenn, who loves me more than anything, and has supported me since our first day together. It reminds me of my children, who keep me sane when my job gets stressful. But most of all, it reminds me of God.

God is my security blanket. He loves me and protects me every day. He gave me my parents, who taught me to be the person I am. He gave me Jenn, who is the most wonderful woman I ever met. He gave my my children, who helped me to realize my responsibilities and also keep me sane and happy. Obviously not all times in my life will be this good, and bad things will happen to me at some point, but I always know, that like Jenn was wrapped in that baby blanket to get through the fire. I am safe in this world by being wrapped up in the love of God.

A Stowaway from the Mall

So. Ahem. There I was, at the mall. MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS. Buying school shoes, in fact. A cute pair of trainers for Kai, Chuck Taylors for Nick, black loafers for me. When Nicky said, "I wanna go look at the kittens!" There, across the mall, at our favorite pet store, was a three level cage full of fluff. Now I did NOT wanna go look at the kittens. I had planned to take a break after Tess passed away. Dot broke my heart just a year and a half ago. Tess, who took her place on my lap, did the same only last week. I didn't want another cat to break my heart. But we always look at the kittens, so I didn't want to disappoint the kids.

When I got to the cage, I crouched down, and reached out a hand. One of the kittens jumped right up, ran over the the side of the cage and reached out her paw and tapped me on the hand. Which is EXACTLY what Tessa used to do when she wanted to be petted. That was all it took. I knew it was too late. I looked up at Scott and said, "As long as she's a girl, I want her." So he went in the store and made it happen. Her name is Princess. (Short for Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fana Fo Fesca The Third, same as all my cats.) I knew that the second they handed her to me - she was definitely a princess.

We took her home. She fell asleep, purring LOUDLY in my lap on the way. She met the dog, and faced her down with a quick bat of her claws to Honey's nose. Honey got it, Princess is in charge. She met Midnight, Kai's cat. Midnight is disdainfully ignoring her existence. Princess is not bothered, but hops around gleefully. Yup, I said hops. She thinks she's a bunny. Everywhere she runs is a series of pounces. She loves the dangly furball on a stick toy Scott got her on the way home. She loves the furry little balls to bat around the house Scott got her on the way home. (Yes, Scott is a cat pamperer from way back. He loves cats.) So far, she seems to be fitting right in. And she's just as cute as can be. I still miss Tessa - and Dot, for that matter - but Princess helps. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed that she stays HEALTHY.

Back to School

Back to school affects the whole family in our house. I spent this week getting my classroom ready to go back to teaching seventh graders. I'm excited about the new school year, as always, but frustrated by the days spent in meetings (also, as always!). Still, it's a pretty exciting time. We all head back on Monday, and my classroom is finally just about put together. I really love teaching, and I can't wait to get started again. We had a motivational inservice speaker today who asked what we would do if we had $86,400 deposited in our bank account each day, with the caveat that whatever we didn't spend was removed at the end of each night. A few people jokingly (or in some cases, not so jokingly) called out that they wouldn't be here, meaning school. The thing is, if I had all the money I needed in the world, I'd still be in school. (As evidenced by the fact that I got a check today for more than my two week salary for one week of work at my husband's employer!) It's truly what I feel called to do.

So anyway, here's some pictures of my classroom:

This is my homework board, where I post the assignments my kids love to.... ignore. But hey, that's seventh grade for you! It's my job to convince them otherwise.

This is my desk. Take note. It will only be that clean two or three times a year. Though usually it's considerably more tidy than the desks of my colleagues - I can't function in a mess, so I keep it to a few select piles instead of an avalanche! This is one of my bulletin boards. It's always a challenge to figure out how to cover the vast empty wall space in my classroom, which is two-thirds bulletin board. This bulletin board is from a calendar Uncle Bob (who taught for thirty years) gave me to use in my classroom.

This is my writing center, where students can grab a dictionary or thesaurus. I also stock plenty of paper, art supplies and ideas (on the posters).

This group of fictional friends graces the top of my classroom library. Sure, they're a little young for seventh grade, but maybe they'll bring back the days when my students thought reading was fun! (Some, of course, still do!)
And finally, the view of my classroom from the door. Yes. It's a triangle. No, I don't want to talk about it....
By the way, do you know the punchline to the story about $86,400? You might have heard it before...

You see, every day, we have 86,400 seconds deposited into our life. And if we don't use them, we lose them. In my job, I am privileged to use some of those seconds every day to educate the youth of America. Why would I want to be anywhere else?

Celebrating Our Hometown

We love our town. It's a beautiful place to live. The people are friendly, the streets are tidy, and though we're a short hop away from three small cities, and a mere hour or two away from two huge metropolitan areas, there is still a small town feeling in Hellertown, Pennsylvania. One of the days that shows our hometown to its best advantage is Community Day, which happened this past Saturday.

The first order of business for us was to get Kairi over to the area behind town hall, where her dance conservatory was putting on a demonstration. Kai is on the competition dance squad, so she got to participate. They danced their award winning number "Oh Boy!" I liked that they weren't performing in a dark hall so I could get a few pretty good photos! She did a great job, as always, and the people in the crowd seemed very impressed. Of course, we had seen the routine a few (thousand) times before, so we could tell the girls were all a BIT rusty since recital, but that's what 2 months without class will do! Still, they were really adorable, and we were proud of her.

After the performance, we started strolling around the booths set up by the various local churches and businesses. We had some really delicious fresh squeezed lemonade, and the kids rode on a train of cars made from metal barrels and pulled by a tractor. It was a cute little ride, but even more cute was the fact that when Kai got on, half of her class was also riding, so they were all wearing matching dance dresses. Nicky liked his car because it was black, which he's decided is his new favorite color of the moment.

We were looking for a booth we had seen last year advertising a local dojo. Nicky really wants to start karate, but we can't seem to find somewhere to take him that's not a long drive. So we went from booth to booth, getting freebies for the kids, entering raffles, and playing games, like beanbag toss. (Though we never did find the martial arts school.) Scott watched Saucon Valley Fine Arts perform songs from musicals while the kids won (by answering a health question) and decorated t-shirts at the hospital's booth. There was a moonbounce, of course, and face painting, bake sales, and a hot dog stand where we eventually stopped for lunch. We also stopped by the booth of a good friend from church who was selling Creative Memories products for a nice chat.

Then we discovered that they had turned the town fountain into a duck pond! It looked so funny! The kids won prizes while Scott and I relaxed and chatted to neighbors. The day was a huge success, and Nicky is still talking about it. (And playing with all the loot he got!)

The one downer of the day came later, when Kai reported for her second performance at Dimmick Park. The show had to be cancelled because it started to pour, and the floor was too slippery to be safe for the dancers.

If I could choose anywhere in the world to raise my kids, I'd choose where we are right now. That's a very nice feeling as a parent.

In Memoriam

Contessa, known as Tessa, my sweet precious kitty, died today. We don't know exactly what happened, but she was very sick, so it could have been natural, or the result of a fall while trying to climb.

She was the snuggliest cat ever to walk the face of this planet. She would crawl right up on you and curl up. If you didn't pet her, she'd reach out with her claws, ever so gently, and tap your hand until you did. She slept on my chest while I watched football games, and chased anything string related like the safety of the house depended on it. She was shy, and sweet, until you got to know her. Then she was demanding and sweet, always wanting a lap or attention. She loved bits of chicken and fish, and would eat out of your hand. She had the most beautiful grey coat I've ever seen until she got sick, and her eyes were like topaz. She was only with me for a year and four months, but she was a part of my heart after four minutes. I will miss her more than I can say.

I know that less than two weeks ago, I refused to talk on this blog about the loss of a wonderful man. So I have to end today's entry by saying that of course I realize that what happened today is not as important, in the grand scheme. But maybe that's why I can talk about it here. Or maybe it's because many people eulogized Bob. But I'm one of the few in the world who will remember Tessa. And while I KNOW that Bob is with the Lord, I can only pray that my sweet kitty is in the arms of the angels.

I Fought the To-Do List....

....but the To-Do List won. :-( And the kids are SOOOOO disappointed. After buying rollerblades as our family fun activity on Wednesday, the craziness that is my life took over and we haven't even been out on the skates yet.

In fact, somehow, my to-do list even got some of my free time when I altered a clipboard for a challenge on Scrappin_FUN. A clipboard to hold... my list! ARRGGHH!

Before you decry me as a horrible parent, you should probably know I completed that while the kids slept.

I am disappointed that I didn't stick to my 12 Days of Summer challenge, but going back to work full time was exhausting, even if it wasn't my real work. Couple that with the bill paying, grocery shopping, errand running mess that comes with pay week, and dance and piano practice and registration... Well, we all got sidetracked.

No matter. Tomorrow is Community Day in Hellertown and Fall Cleaning Weekend in our house and we'll spend so much family time together this weekend we'll all be READY to go back to school just to get away from all the togetherness!

Fast Food, Fast Fun

So. Turns out I jinxed the weather by mentioning how lovely it was yesterday. So it rained all morning and got hot and muggy in the afternoon. Since no one felt like outdoor fun in the sticky humidity, we tossed around ideas for a replacement and came up with.... McDonald's.

Now, before you say "McDonald's??? What's fun about McDonald's??" you should probably know that about 15 minutes from our house is maybe the coolest McDonald's playland ANYWHERE. We're talking 25 foot high castle, dragon slide, alligator guarded moat playplace.

So, after finding some elusive socks (we're a no sock family in January, so you know they're stuffed at the back of a drawer in August) we headed down the road to Quakertown and Castle McD.

Being mean parents, we made the kids eat dinner before they ran off to play. Well, most of dinner. They ordered apple dippers cause they both hate fries, but they got fries. Since the cashier had already given us a free drink after he forgot to ring mine up, I felt bad going up to say something else was goofed up, so they scarfed milk and chicken nuggets and stormed the castle. They got REALLY cute pictures of each other for me, since I wasn't inclined to crawl around with them.

Scott and I relaxed and shared a fruit and walnut salad. Just for the record, the fruit and walnut salads are the best menu item McDonald's has ever added. Meanwhile, the kids discovered that the dragon slide was FAST and began a campaign of pleading to get the adults to try it out. (We eventually caved in. It was FAST.)

On the drive there and back, we set some family goals for the rest of 2006. Tonight's dinner non-withstanding, we're all going to try to eat healthier and exercise more. We want to get the house clean before we go back to school and start a chores chart to divide work more fairly. Scott and I are going to try and be less stressed, and the kids are going to try to stay organized at school. Hopefully we can stick to it!

That just leaves one problem about today's entertainment, though... If Ronald McDonald lives in a castle, does that make him the Burger King???

Game Over

After working all day, and a dinner that took far too long to cook, tonight's fun had to be simple and close to home. So we settled on a video game tournament in our own living room. Everyone picked a game and we played a four game elimination round. Then Scott, Kai and I continued to the two game semi-finals, where Nicky (in conspiracy with his sister I'm sure!) chose Sonic games, one of which I had never even played. No surprise then, that Scott and Kai advanced to the finals, where Scott defeated Kai in Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine for the title. Way to go, Nintendo Wizard!

The prize? A family trip over to Rita's Italian Ice, where we discovered to our glee that Rita's has a new taste sensation named.... Well, it doesn't actually have a name yet! They blend italian ice, frozen custard and Oreo or Nilla cookie crumbs to create multitudes of possible combinations. And they're looking for a name - with the prize of free Rita's for the year! Kai had a Cookie Jar Explosion _________, which was cookie dough ice, vanilla custard, and Oreo crumbles. I had a Banana Cream Pie ____________, which was banana ice, vanilla custard, and Nilla crumbles. Scott opted for Oreo Mint Chip ____________, which is Mint Chip ice, chocolate custard, and Oreo crumbles. Nicky? Ever the rebel, he went for a Green Apple Misto. We submitted "Vortex" as our vote for the name of the creation. Too bad Scott and I have decided to start dieting on Thursday (grocery shopping day)! But just think how guilt free our enjoyment of the occasional Rita's will be next summer when we're down to our svelte goal weights!!

Anyway, a simple but fun way to spend a family evening. We'll have to make sure to do something outside tomorrow and take advantage of the beautiful weather we're having!

In A Word, YUCK

Well, you know what they say. Never judge a man until you've walked a mile in his moccassins. Or, in this case, never judge a hubby until you've worked 7 hours in his cubicle.

I CANNOT BELIEVE how freakin' exhausting it is to sit in front of a computer screen all day. Not to mention how stiff my neck is, the headache I have from the light blinking randomly on and off over my desk, or the stress of trying to do a good job when doing something right means that someone else did something wrong!

I was hired as (official title, ooOooOO) "Gradebook Consultant" at Scotty's work for the week. They're offering me as many hours as I'd like to work, with a minimum of 20 and a maximum of 40. I get paid $35 an hour. Now, since my OWN work is cheating me out of a week's pay due to some strange 7 year pay cycle thing, it seemed like a pretty good deal.

What I'm doing is testing the software. Which basically means playing with it until I find something that doesn't work. Then reporting that it doesn't work. Doesn't seem overly difficult, right?

But at my work, I spend the WHOLE day talking and interacting with other people. I spend 90% of my day on my feet, moving around. I create lessons and occasionally artwork for bulletin boards or student samples. I read and talk about books. I spend 40 minutes twice a week in team meeting, talking to my fellow teachers, not to mention conversations in the hallway. I perform on the stage that is my classroom to a generally appreciative audience. And if there's a mess on my desk, it's my mess, and I can clean it up. So sitting in a borrowed cubicle clicking buttons and entering data , no matter how nice or generous my employer, is just NOT something I could do for any extended length of time.

So the next time I wonder why Scotty is so tired after "sitting at a computer all day", here's a note to myself: BE NICE TO HIM, YA DORK!!!

Fore!

Today's adventure in our "Twelve Days of Summer Vacation" was a trip to a mini golf course. Our first choice was an indoor course we had never been to, but we didn't actually find it. So, our backup was a course we have gone to a few times before.

While my grandfather golfed religiously every week until he was in his mid 80's, no one else in my family golfs. I had been to driving ranges in my early teens, but that's about it. So, it is no surprise that we all pretty much stink at mini golf. That didn't stop up from having fun today.

Kairi got the hang of the game a few years ago with help from Uncle Barry, but she can get lazy occassionaly and not aim properly. Nicky usually swings wildly and occassionally gets the ball in the hole. Jenn and I are almost decent. Almost.

We did all eighteen holes in about an hour and a half. A few times we all got par. Mostly we were all at least a swing or two over. No holes-in-one this time. Ah, well, there's always next trip.

We went into the little counter service eatery after the game, thinking about ice cream, but ending up eating dinner instead. No one wanted to do dishes anyway. In the end, I won. Although I don't like to rub it in. Much. :)

Scott

A Work of Art

I just have to share this fabulous quilt my mother made. It's a Commemorative Quilt for the Bicentennial of Henderson, NY. She designed and sewed all the squares, and then incorporated them into the quilt. She is so talented!!

This is what she does for a living now that she's retired, so if anyone out there who reads my blog needs a quilt, check out http://www.customquiltsbymarybeth.com. I am SOO proud to have such a creative artist in my family!

Discovery, DaVinci Style

We set out today for some fun without a particular goal in mind. Then I thought of the DaVinci Center. Kai and I had both been to the old Discovery Center in Bethlehem, but Nick and Scott hadn't. Plus, the new digs looked fabu from the outside, and we'd heard lots of new exhibits had been added. After a slight snafu in finding our way down the right one way street to get to the entrance, we arrived, only to realize we had only 3 hours before they closed to get the most out of our $30 (family total, not each!) admissions. We decided to go ahead and explore anyway. Turns out it was a GREAT choice.

The new building is beautiful, architechturally speaking. The huge glass walls let in lots of light, and the open floor plan had the kids continually hustling to see the next "cool" thing. The first exhibit let us examine various materials under magnification varying from a regular magnifying glass all the way up to an atomic microscope. Nicky especially loved the videoscope that projected the 100X magnified items on a television screen.

The next room housed all kinds of exhibits. Magnets were a popular plaything as we used magnetic fields to manipulate ferrous liquids. The iron filled liquid looked like pulsing, living creatures - not entirely unlike the sea urchins in the touch tank across the room. Dinosaurs and bones and tree rings in the nature area were examined and poked, and another videoscope, this one a "scope on a rope" gave us REALLY close up looks at our own eyes and faces. Another favorite was the light and dark area, where we crawled through a black hole tunnel (WOW was it dark in there!), left shadow imprints on a phosphorescent wall, became human batteries, and discovered that yes, Scott is right - those funny curly looking lightbulbs DO use less energy.

We also had fun in the weather center, changing the blue screen background while giving weather reports that changed rapidly from blizzards to hurricanes, with a random peaceful tropical beach just for fun. Seeing ourselves in the scene was very cool. Especially the hurricane, since we all love Anderson Cooper's hurricane coverage, but would just as soon never be in another tropical storm after Alberto in Disney World!

Then we went to the medical area, where we used stethoscopes to listen to each other's hearts, and tried to diagnose a patient from his x-rays, vital signs and symptoms. Obviously, Scott thought some brain surgery was needed....

We then headed upstairs, where we found a series of exhibits on machines and motion. The kids especially loved the fast sliding chairs demonstrating Newton's Third Law. Nicky lifted 120 lbs. with the help of a lever and Kairi generated enough power on a treadmill to turn on a video monitor. There was a HUGE kaliedescope and a sand art pendulum, and a wall for building chutes that a golf ball could travel down. We also tried our luck at arm wrestling a patron at another museum through the internet, pushing on a robotic arm on our end while they pushed on a robotic arm on their end. When the connection went through, though, we discovered ourselves wrestling against 12 kids or more in Queens, all pushing at once! We never had a chance. Also in this area, I particularly liked the giant tinkertoys that demonstrated center of gravity.

A snack break took us to a cafe where everything was automated, right down to vending machines that produced hot pizzas, macaroni and cheese, chicken strips, and fries! Kai and I enjoyed those ice cream dots you find at amusement parks, sucked out of the machine by vacuum power. Nick wanted a boring old cinnamon roll from the regular vending machine, but Scott was adventurous and sampled the vending fries. We all agreed they were pretty yummy, and they cooked in just 2 minutes!

It's nice to live in such a growing area where more fun family activities seem to pop up all the time. When we left, the kids were already talking about the next time we went back, and Nicky declared it cooler than Dorney Park, but not as cool as Disney World.

So, operation Twelve Days of Summer Vacation seems to be going GREAT! I can't wait to see what we come up with for tomorrow!